Days of My Life

Talk about daily life of a teenage girl in Iraq, and days of suffering and success. My nick name will be Sunshine..

Thursday, June 26, 2014

The situation in Mosul.

I don't know what to say, my heart is full of sorrow and fear

The past 3 weeks were the hardest ever, 11 years of war , I've written about hard days in blog but they are nothing compared to what happened this time.

War between armed men and al Maliki's army

I arrived Baghdad on 29/5 , i came in a visit to my grandparents. On Friday morning 6/6 , my mom received an sms from dad, he said "a bloody battle in our neighborhood since 3 am "

The fight started at 3 am on Tuesday , no one knew what was going on , shelling, heavy shooting , and explosions , my dad and grandparents stayed in the corridor for 3 days.

I was catching my mobile phone looking for news all the time, the people in Mosul ( who had Internet connection) were writing about this huge battle in face book they even posted photos taken from their own houses, i called my dad several time to tell him whats happening outside , they were trapped with no TV nor Internet , the electricity was off , and they had no water as well.

On Saturday 7/6 , we lost the communication with dad and grandparents , their mobile batteries were low , so they had to close them to save the battery for emergency , as well as for security reasons there was perturbation on the neighborhood ..

we were catching our mobile phones waiting for a call or sms saying they are alive .

Finally a text message from dad , he said " the coverage is very bad , motors are falling on the neighborhood , thank god you guys are not here"

Later at midnight , my dad sent a text message "we can't even leave, they're fighting in our street and in front of our house we cant even go to the next room"

Next day, With the early morning we got a phone call from our relative, he said that all my relatives in nearby neighborhoods will leave Mosul together as soon as they can , then we got a phone call which was devastating , they said dad and grandpa couldn't leave, and my relatives left without them.

what is going to happen to dad and grandparents ? my mom and i were so worried, we were just praying for a light of hope.

Later on Monday, dad called us, mom answered :

- oh my god , dear , how are you?

Dad couldn't catch a breath , he said

- we are walking fast , we could do it , we left the neighborhood , i cant speak anymore , bye

This short phone call was the light of hope we were praying for.

We didn't know how did they leave, or where they are going , but we felt more relief.

My dad , grandma and grandpa walked a lot to reach the other part of Mosul, the hardest thing was to leave the neighborhood as the shelling and shooting was heavy , but they had no other choice, And thanks to Allah they survived.

Grandma , after walking for large distance said she can't walk anymore , so they took a rest in a friends' house to catch a breath , meanwhile dad sent a message " we don't know were to go , we just want to reach the other part of Mosul , to any neighborhood " At 7:30 pm dad called to say they reached our friend's house (uncle S ) which is faraway from our neighborhood , this trip took them 9 hours but they took two rests .

thousands of people were " migrating " elderly people , pregnant women ( we know a woman who walked to reach a hospital outside Mosul to give birth of twins ! ) , people who just had a surgery (like a friend of mine , and dad's uncle) , kids , injured people , guys carrying disabled people , and many others , they were walking to the unknown ..

That day at midnight , exactly at 1 am , soldiers started to shout hysterically and hitting the door dad went outside running with uncle S.

-what is going on?

-YOU MUST LEAVE NOW , SHELLING IS ABOUT TO START.

Three families were staying in one house (18 people ) , uncle s and his family, my family, and uncle k's family .

uncle S had 3 cars , so he let my dad drive one, and uncle k took the other one, they left in such a hurry and panic.

The soldiers took off their military clothes , threw their weapons in the streets, wore civilian clothes and ran away, leaving the left part of city under the control of The armed men, they surrendered with out fight.

All the families in the right part of Mosul left their houses, as well as the majority of people in the left part . People were driving towards the northern part of Iraq, villages , or any safe place..

After 11 hours of driving in the night, dad reached a calm village at 12 pm , we know a friend who has a house there, he was so generous And invited many other families to stay as well.

They spent one night there, and went back to Mosul , to uncle s's house again..

The shelling was just a rumor to terrify people.

On Wednesday , dad called , he told my mom that he must go back to our home, to take our money, important papers, gold, cloths , and medications.

many men went to their houses as well, to take the important stuff , before another bloody battle starts !

Many families returned to the left part of Mosul, as they couldn't find any place to stay in villages, or couldn't enter Duhok and Arbile cities, We know many people who stayed in the streets at that night waiting to enter the northern cities, but not all of them were allowed . Especially after Duhok and Arbile became crowded with moslawi people.

8 days later, my dad and grandparents returned to our house..

Right now, there is no shooting , and armed men took control of Mosul and near by villages, as well as other cities ..

there is no electricity, no fuel, no gas, no salaries, lack of food supplies especially the one that need Freezers , the vegetables and fruits are bad and expensive , as there are no electricity the food in our refrigerators molded , people are struggling in this hot weather (42 Cel)

Everyone is worried and upset , no one knows what will happen next.

We just want a suitable life like any other human being in the world, is it too much to ask?

We are thinking seriously to leave , but how? where? When? We don't know ..

Sunshine.

note : I'll try to post some photos as soon as i have a better internet connection .

Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Election day

in the past
two months the most common conversations were about the election day as this is
the most important event that we were waiting with hearts full of fear and some
hope ..

people were
expecting more violence, Arrests for the innocents , blocked roads , curfew , etc

But , the situation
was even worst ! villages were drowned completely to stop people of
participating , innocent guys were
killed randomly, others were arrested in jails for no guilt ..

I went today
despite of everything, Iraqis desperately
want a new government , educated , strong, and loyal to IRAQ ..

I saw
interviews with people who were forced to leave their villages after their
houses were drowned completely they said
" we are going to vote swimming", after swimming

to their
election stations outside the villages they found them closed !

from the
early morning, Mortar fell on neighborhoods in Mosul, Salahaldeen, Baghdad and
other cities , policemen and citizens
were killed and injured ..

My family,
relatives, friends and i voted today , we're determined to do whatever it takes
to have a better future, we went for the sake of people who lost their houses,
the people who couldn't reach their election stations, for the sake of widows ,
orphans , for innocents in jails, for Iraqis
that we lost since the invasion ..

Tuesday, April 08, 2014

happiness and sadness were competing to have a biggest space in my heart that day ..

i wrote few posts and i didn't
publish them

I'd write a post and in the next day
something would happen , and i update the post again, until i found it full of inconsistent
events !!..

the last 3 weeks were full of tension,
i waited until i feel more relax to be able to write again .

I woke up on Thursday 13/3 , the
weather was really nice , i decided to spend a nice time writing a post, so I
opened the window , brought my laptop , prepared a delicious piece of cake and
coffee, how happy did I felt when electricity
came in the morning!

I wrote few words until my grandma came crying
saying a friend of ours lost his son , when a car bomb exploded ( i am not
going to mention the horrible details) , i was shocked , became speechless! a
voice in my heart was saying "i hope it is not true " while my mind draw a complete image based on my grandma's description
of the painful accident .

My best and close friend was going to
get married on Friday 14/3 , i had to hide the sadness in my voice each time
she called me , i didn't want her to hear such things before her wedding .

you know how nervous a bride can be in the day
before her wedding, she had to make sure everything was ok and she didn't
forget to prepare a tiny detail for this big day !

my friend and i planned together for her
wedding and i did some of the decorations , I was putting my last touches while
tears running out on my cheeks ..

happiness ( for my close friend) and
sadness (to hear about this lose) were competing
to have a biggest space in my heart that day .. it was exhausting

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

why i couldn't write for two years !

hello
my dear readers , two years passed since my last post .. i definitely have a lot to talk about ..

I
graduated from the first term with fine marks last July, so now i became an
engineer ( who doesn't have a job , of course )

I
had to give up writing , i was so busy with my studying, and graduation project
, i had to give up (temporarily) all my hobbies, even going out and my social life ! and
concentrate , thank god it gave good results , i look forward to write and hear
from you all again

Monday, June 18, 2012

Finals

Friday, April 20, 2012

Thanks for being patient ..

after my
first semester exams, I took a week off, and went to Baghdad with my family …

Oh what a
great vacation, with my grandparents, relatives and neighbors ..

We arrived on
Friday, and spent a great week ,visited our neighbors and relatives, went
shopping 5 times, visited my favorite place " Al Roubai'e street" ,
went to the restaurants in Baghdad, celebrated valentine (grandpa took us to a nice restaurant) ,oh Baghdad looked
wonderful that day, it was full of white and red , people dressing red,
carrying roses and balloons, restaurants were filled with lovers and the
decoration was special that day, I ordered
a steak and it came with a heart shape candle, such a lovely idea.. for
one day I forgot all about situation and routine .. people celebrate that day
with their loved ones and families, and I heard a guy talking in one channel he
said " this year, people exaggerated in celebrating valentine they're
walking carrying red bears, roses , balloons and cars are filled with roses ,
load music everywhere, and that's all happening to embitter those who
threatened us not to celebrate valentine, it is an overreaction" .. well,
I love any occasion that express love and care between people ..

And also, in
Baghdad I had an amazing haircut in a new salon, the owner trained in Lebanon
and she's very talented, although we made a reservation and had an appointment, we waited for four
hours!! It was a chance to meet new people and look into new magazines, I had
fun ..

we celebrated
my delayed birthday, and my sister's
birthday , the best part is we went to two parites "YAAAAAY".

My neighbor
who's a high school teacher got married , so we went to her laylat al hinna
party and to her wedding ..

I've written
about our weddings tradition few years ago..

Laylat al
hinna,is the day before wedding (or two days before wedding), where the bride
celebrate with her family ,relatives and friends , and it's from our traditions
to put hinna in little figure for the bride and groom (the bride can wash it immediately
if she doesn't like the orange color), and then the bride put hinna for everyone
who wants ..

So, we had
lovely time, and they hired a band of two women (one of them sings and the
other play music) ..

The wedding
was nice and I had fun in both parites..

When we came
home from the wedding, grandma prepared delicious ice cream , and that was the
end of Baghdad visit events ..

Two weeks
ago, my family and I spent two days in Dhook, we stayed in a nice motel , the
view was gorgeous, my brother (8 years old)kept asking are we still in Iraq?? He
didn't believe so! Everything looks different, the streets, the traffics , the
malls, we felt different, safe, and remembered
what is it like to walk in the street with sense of dignity, no police
yelling or concrete walls everywhere, I hope every city of Iraq become like the
northern cities ..

We went
shopping (my favorite hobby !!), had nice lunch in a restaurant called malta, it
was an elegant place, also visited Dhooks dam, and went to dream city (children's
city), it was so much fun, and in the next day we went to anishky cave, then had lunch in nice restaurant, and went to a mall..

then came back to Mosul , to the same busy life and daily routine and exams , as the 2'nd semester is close to end, I feel
more stressed and exhausted...

Monday, January 23, 2012

A Holiday without Break !!..

My exams will start on Wednesday, so I've been
studying hard since the holiday began ..

This year (as well as last year), we had our
mid-year -holiday (which lasts for two weeks) before our exams!!! Because Shiites
have their own "religious ceremony"

We all felt frustrated, we were supposed to
have a rest for two weeks after exams, and now we should spend time studying hard
as professors gave us more subjects and we expect the questions to be more
difficult as we had extra time to study (as they said) !!! ..

I studied a lot, solved hundreds of questions ,
studied my own lectures, as well as lectures of last year to get benefits of their
notes , brought helpful books and resources and solved the mid questions of the
past 4 or 5 years!

engineering is an awesome field and I want to
enjoy my time in college , so this year I didn't pay attention to our
professors' hard character and the way they try to let us feel down especially
when they show-off and talk about how no student could answer their questions
and the low percentage of success among studentsetc ..this year I feel more busy but much more relaxed and enjoy the subjects I
am reading without being disturbed and their words rolling in my mind all time …
I have faith in god and all I can do is, being the best I can , why should I
pay attention to negative comments that will not improve my skills nor help me
at all??…

I really
want to write a long post and have millions on thought is my head .. but my
spare time barely exists .. I spend the majority of time studying , and when I finish
I have housework to do , since my mom had her back disk I try to rush and do
all housework need to be done so that she doesn’t hurt her back… I promise to write after my exams end(they
last for less than for 3 weeks) , thanks for being patient with me :D

About Me

I was born in 29/1/1992 , I grow up among well educated family.
i am studying engineering now, it was my dream to be an engineer and help in rebuilding my country in the future.
I have many dreams and ambitions, I wish that one day they become true .my mom always support me to accomplish my ambitions …
optimism is my strategy always…
Computer and internet are my life and what I do in my spare time , But if we don’t have electricity, I spend my spare time reading , writing, listening to music and doing some handmade work …
I found that Blogging is a great way to express my thoughts , opinions, & feelings to the world ,to get friends & to share them my happy & sad moments…